Last week's message from Gabby 11/25

This week we got a visit from an apostle of God. I can't even believe how much my heart burns with testimony upon even writing that sentence. I know he is a prophet of God and an Apostle. His name is Russel M. Nelson, and he is the cardiologist responsible for kind of "discovering" open heart surgery. He came to visit us this week. It's the first time that Chiclayo has seen an apostle in years. Elder Nelson greeted us individually, and, as I was in the choir that sang, I got to sit one row behind him. It was an amazing experience and I got to hear an answer to my prayer directly from his wife. Her talk was actually my favorite. Hahaha. She's incredible. Then, yesterday, we had a area-wide broadcast on the work of salvation. I'm so excited and so thankful to be a part of the work at this time. They said it's an age in the history of the church similar to those first days of the restauration.

This week's message from Gabby 12/2

So, I wrote my sister this week about an internship she's thinking about doing in Perú. Here are my thoughts: Kay, since you're still thinking about the Perú internship thing, here are my thoughts black and white and frank-all-over: I really don't believe in organizations that just try to generally clean up a few problem areas. The gospel is the answer for all the world's ills. It really is. And there's no amount of funding and no amount of free food that can motivate people to change their circumstances if they 1. don't believe they really can, 2. don't have an end goal in mind, and 3. don't know how. That's where the gospel comes it. It's motivation, it's how change is possible, and it starts with us, which is where changes should really begin. Now, there are obviously some other issues to deal with that really can change lives, but nothing will change unless the people themselves change it. That being the case, next to the gospel, my biggest beef is with the education here. I had NO idea before my mission what a SIGNIFICANT difference education makes. It changes public health problems, it changes family relations, it changes lives. I'm currently in the most affluent area of Chiclayo. On a regular, I talk with some of the most educated people in the region. But it is still ridiculously obvious that there are basic areas of understanding that we take for granted in the states that they don't have here. For example, conversations like this occur with regularity: "My daughter has bronchitis. She's been coughing for weeks." "Wow! What happened?" "She sat in a room with the fans going." "Oh, yeah. That makes sense. (As if it made sense.) You should make sure that she doesn't drink anything too hot or too cold. (As if that was a cure or a cause.)" My companion calmly explained last night that the people rummaging through the garbage were just looking for stuff to be able to take home or to sell. She added, as though sharing a shoppers secret, "And and really great prices too!" So, that's all I have to say about that.

Okay, so something to share from this week is a journal entry I wrote. So, yesterday was basically a bum day all day. We walked around the whole entire day, found no one, entered 0 houses. Then, at the end, we had a family home evening with the Reque family. The wife and the husband have been having a bunch of marital problems. I haven't been sure if they're going to end up making it as a couple. But yesterday, they exchanging glances like I have never seen before. And right at the end, they comitted to continue fighting for their family. Yay!! But THEN, after dinner, the son of my pensionista (the sister who cooks for us) makes like he wants to chat. So, we're like, "Okay, we dig it." And he confesses that he's been wanting to go on a mission! And he says that he's thinking about going in January!!! WHAAT?! I'm McLovin' it because I was there when he first started getting that testimony back. When I first met him, he said, "Yeah, I WAS Mormon, but I haven't been in a looong time. I'm super, super inactive." And now look at him! And today, we went to see Nayelli. Maria, her grandmother, is not our biggest fan. And since Nayelli says that she does literally nothing without her grandmother, her progression's been pretty rough. But I love Hermana Escobedo because se just goes in there and attacks at full speed, no fear. And Maria starts to LISTEN to her! She looks at her like she's this supreme being who's been called to translate for te American. At the end, she's like, "Yeah. The Bible and the Book of Mormon are one in the same, just like God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are three different people but one in purpose." Pow! Blew my mind.

My favorite part of this week was definitely the tour of the capilla that we did for an investigator this past Saturday. He's having a hard time progressing because he's afraid he's going to get super deep into the church only to find out one day that he was equivocado. So, him actually coming to the church was a big step. The Spirit was super strong. It was awesome. :) Lourvin' being a missionary. ...even though I'm realizing more and more that everything is more intense during this time. I think Satan works a whole lot of overtime on the missionaries. And I know that it's because of the work we do. While, it is super rough sometimes and I'd prefer that it wasn't the case, at the same time, it's somehow gratifying to know that it's that important. I'm just going to keep taking baby steps at a time. I'm lejos de perfect, but I just keep thinking that if I can just make a good decision this once today, maybe tomorrow I'll be able to make another one. So, that's the lesson learned this week. Also! We found out that Russel M. Nelson is going to be coming to our mission soon. Oh check yes!

These are photos of Hermana Brito and I and our guinea pig lunch.

Here is a really picture of Kuelap! (I think she is translating from Spanish to English, what do you think?)

So, guess what! I'm opening an area! It's called Santa Victoria 3, and it's in the heart of Chiclayo. It's the most affluent area in the whole mission, and the ward is ridiculously cool. Plus, Santa Victoria 1 and 2 are the elders that work in the office. That means they don't have a lot of time to go out proselyting and that we've got our work cut out for us here, but it also means that we're super close to the president and that we're super well taken care of. And I've got another surprise! I have a daughter! Oh, well a step-daughter. In the mission, when we train new people, we're called their "parents" and they're our "son" or "daughter." But this time, my companion got transferred with me in the middle of her training, so I'm just finishing it up. Lots to do! Prayer's become a big deal. Hahaha. But I'm glad for the opportunity to do it. She's also American!

So, what's it like in Chiclayo... it's super, super different from Jaèn/Bagua. It's a lot more like the states in the way that there are more cars than moto taxis and there's technology and shopping malls. It's pretty different. AND it's cold here! It's like autum-ish weather. They say it'll warm up around January-December.

I love being a trainer. It's the greatest. We're putting up Christmas decorations in our apartment to prepare for the missionaries who will come in after we're transferred hahah. I even made a paper Christmas tree. Pictures will come when my usb is fixed (has a virus). I loved conference. I sang today in our zone conference and the elders from the office told me that they wanted to record it to be able to distribute it through the mission. The song wasn't mine, so they told me to write one and they'd do it. We'll see how that goes, but I'm pretty excited. I'd honestly love to do it.

So, guess what! I'm opening an area! It's called Santa Victoria 3, and it's in the heart of Chiclayo. It's the most affluent area in the whole mission, and the ward is ridiculously cool. Plus, Santa Victoria 1 and 2 are the elders that work in the office. That means they don't have a lot of time to go out proselyting and that we've got our work cut out for us here, but it also means that we're super close to the president and that we're super well taken care of. And I've got another suprise! I have a daughter! Oh, well a step-daughter. In the mission, when we train new people, we're called their "parents" and they're our "son" or "daughter." But this time, my compaining got transferred with me in the middle of her training, so I'm just finishing it up. Lots to do! Prayer's become a big deal. Hahaha. But I'm glad for the oportunity to do it. She's also American! I wrote some thoughts to a sister that used to serve here. She and I have become penpals. So, this is what I wrote her on the subject. There's this article about unhealthy perfectionism that Elder Alviña randomly gave to us that was the source of my inner reflections this morning. There were a couple of parts that hit me pretty profoundly, but the one that changed the game was this: "To be perfect is to be a Savior. My investigators need only one Savior. And my job is to invite them to come unto him." I had a teacher at BYUH that once told me that any lack of faith is a lack of faith in Heavenly Father. Hermana Sonictrumpets, I know that sometimes times get rough, in the mission as well as out in the world. We're not exempt from pain because we're returned missionaries. But I hope you perservere. And it sounds like you are. I know that the Savior of the world died so that you and I could have the ability to make mistakes, to learn, to grow. I hope the challenges you face right now won't keep you from believing that there is good in the world and peace to be found in Him who died to make us free.

I'm leaving Jaén! I don't know where they'll send me when I get there, but I'm leaving for Chiclayo in a little bit to be reassigned to a different area. I'll miss Hermana Norabuena, but I expect my new compy will be just as cool. I have another funny story to tell today. We went to visit an investigtor who has a part-member family, but didn't find him at home. But we did find his son, who was baptized when he was a teenager but has since left the church, instead. We're sitting there talking about the restored gospel because he has a ton of questions about why there are so many churches in the world with so many different doctrines. Restoration, right? Duh! Haha And it's marvelous. At the end, he's like, "Oh, yeah I remember that I had heard about Joseph Smith, but I didn't really realize who he was. He just has to have been a profet!" We love it, right? We're like, "Oh yeah, this guy's coming back to church! He's gonna receive the priesthood and go to the temple and seal his family together forever, etc." All this stuff, right? And then, after we've already said the prayer and we're putting our scriptures back in our backpacks to leave, he says this one little thing, "Oh, one last question." "Yeah, of course! What is it?" "Why do I see duendes?" Now, to give it a little perspective, a "duende" is a type of sprite-like creature that doesn't really exist. "Duendes?" We ask. "Yeah, duendes! I always see them with there little shoulders like this [he hunches] and their nose like this [he gestures at his scruntched nose and snorts]." "Oh. Oookay." I say. Hahaha rrooooouuugh! I had no idea what to tell him! We promised to study it out and get back to him. I still haven't found anything. But if anyone knows anything, I'm open for advice. Haha

Yes! I have a people to add to the list! (Mom's explanation of the list as requested by Gabby: We are doing a 21 day promise in our Ward.  We put on a list we fast and pray for them.  We read scriptures as part of obedience.  Then someone will accept the missionary lessons is the promise from the Lord) One of them is really, really special. His name is Michel. He's fourteen-years-old and he has a super strong testimony already. We found his grandma sweeping up the leaves that had fallen in front of her house and offered to help her. She hasn't shown incredible interest, but one day we went to visit her and found him at home alone instead. We started to visit him, and it turns out that he's super prepared. We explained the Restoration to him, and, at the end, he was like, "Where is this church?? Where is the church of Joseph Smith??" And we responded, "Calle (which means street) Iquitos (which is the name of the street)." And he bursts out laughing. "Are you serious?? The church of Jesus Christ himself is in calle Iquitos??" He's incredible. In another lesson, we presented him with a bible (which he had never owned) and a book of mormon of his very own, and, you'll never believe this, but he almost cried. He even wants to be a missionary! Trouble is, his mom is not into the idea at all. We've almost never been able to talk with her. Everytime we come by, she very forcefully says, "We are busy. We don't have time right now. Look. Look at me. We. Are. Busy." And for this, Michel has never even been able to go to church on Sunday. The one time he asked, she beat him. His mom took her nails and scratched his neck and chest. So... Yeah. That's where we're at. We're going to keep teaching him, feeding his spirit with the good word, but we've run out of ideas at this point. We fasted, we pray, we've had members try to visit her too. We just don't know what more we can do.